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Behavior Changes post neuter?

When you all had your dog's neutered, did you notice behavior changes? In boys or girls, but especially boys. I had my female spayed at 11mo and didn't notice any changes. But she hadn't even had her first heat, so wasn't sexually mature yet.

Rory, on the other hand, was quite mature - both physically and sexually - and I wonder what kinds of changes I may see? Ideally - I hope he is not as excitable, but this may not happen. I think that may just be his personality. He wasn't really a horn dog, but would always spend all his time at the park sniffing around and marking everything possible. Not that it bothered me, but do you think this behavior will decrease? It wouldn't be bad if his head spent less time on the ground - even if just to decrease CSF pressure in the brain. No idea if that really makes a difference, but I feel like it might...

anyway - I'm looking for your experiences. Especially those who had males neutered past puberty - once they were already exhibiting "manly" behavior.

Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.
--Roger Caras

I noticed change in Sam just days after the op. I had him neutered at 2 years old. Before that, he had been marking every tree and lampost and sniffing everything. since then, he hardly marks at all, except his own little spot in the yard which is a huge improvement.

All in all, he seems a much happier little man in himself, less excitable (well, he goes nuts when he meets new people but he calms down much quicker) and he's a lot more laid back.

I'm so glad i got it done, any changes i've notice have been for the better. Rory will no doubt benefit greatly from it too without all those hormones going around.

Rupert was neutered at about 1 year. It really calmed him down, he used to get very excitable, particularly around neutered males

However he was never a problem with regard to scent marking etc - I had always taken him everywhere with me as a pup, and he was used to visiting etc. I didn't allow him to mark as he came into puberty, and he's always been a very clean dog {actually I think we've been lucky with him }

We did notice a change in his coat, much thicker but this is controllable with the Coat King Stripping knife.

He also became obsessive about food, we struggled with his weight for some time, but no longer have this problem on Burns or James Wellbeloved. He does demand his meals though... before it was a struggle to get him to eat.

I did notice quite a change in him..i used to work obedience and agility, and felt that he would have been better if he'd not been neutered as he would have been more energetic.

For general discussion:

The decision to neuter has to be made depending on your personal circumstances and where you live etc {eg risk of theft is greater with unneutered males, more likely to stray looking for bitches in season, more likely to scent mark, increased health risks - but testicular cancer is not one which spreads, so can be resolved by neutering. }

Perhaps the biggest issue is the possibility of unwanted litters...there are too many Cavaliers being bred anyway. It's better to neuter than risk more puppies being born.

Hi Nicki -- unrelated to Rory's thread which I am slightly hijacking just to say I am trying the boys on James Wellbeloved (I always used and liked Royal Canin but thought I'd go for a change...). They really seem to love it; I kind of like the larger kibble as well as they spend more time crunching it down. Tara is a big advocate and she and Lisa now recommend it to their doig training classes here in Dublin!

On neutering -- I was listening to a morning animal show here on Saturday where a guy was asking the vet about a behaviour issue (his male jack russell had taken amorously to a rottweiler and the JRT was then attacked for this flirtation by their resident intact female!! He wanted to know if this was jealousy). The vet asked of the jrt was neutered and the man said "No, my vet said it wasn't necessary as long as we minded him well and don't let him out of our sight, which we never do". He then proceeded to explain that moments after this little love triangle, the jrt vanished and an hour later was brought back to him by yes, the owner of the intact female rottie as he'd pursued her over to their house. icon_slapper I was really annoyed the vet didn't give him a dressing down -- so much for 'minding' his intact jrt eh? What a cross that would be -- rotties and jrts...

I had Maxx neutered at 6mths because he had an undescended testicle and a hernia - he had both done at the same time poor little love. It wasn't meant to be, but his testicle was stuck up behind one of his top ribs so the vet had to cut through the hernia anyway

I wouldn't say Maxx was sexually mature but he used to sh@g all his teddies and had also tried it on with my friend's older male cavalier on more than one occasion

Anyway, as Nicki has said, apart from his coat going wild and him looking like a wooly bear, there haven't been many changes in him. He did get VERY overweight but since he has been on the James Wellbeloved food, it's coming off him wonderfully He still scent marks when we are out but I think that's because there are so many other dogs where we live now.

Excellent choice of food btw Karlin. We have had Charlie for 3 months now & his health has improved so much since being on the JWB. His ears and his eyes have both cleared up lovely and his coat is so much better too.